


Turn, turn, turn

by blakefancier



Series: Young Lovers [45]
Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Homophobic Language, M/M, Surprise Pairing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-28
Updated: 2014-07-30
Packaged: 2018-02-10 18:07:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2034858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blakefancier/pseuds/blakefancier
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve starts his final year of high school and plans an anniversary celebration.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Steve's POV

Steve liked school, he did, but he was still feeling a little gun shy after the trouble he had last year. Sure, his mom took care of it, with the help of Howard's lawyer, but it still felt… different. 

Arnie was waiting for him in front of the school, and they walked in together, like they always had since kindergarten. "Didn't see you around the neighborhood much. How was your summer?" he asked, nudging Steve playfully.

"Busy. I got a job as Tony's personal assistant, so I spent a lot of time separating M&Ms by color. And Bucky was home for awhile." Steve glanced at him. "How was your summer?"

Arnie shrugged and hitched his backpack up a little. "Same old, same old. Got a couple of extra shifts at the grocery store." Steve knew Arnie did it for more than just the money—extra shifts meant he wasn't home to hear his parents arguing. "Saved up enough for all the extras we'll need to buy this year."

He smiled suddenly as the realization hit: this was his last year of high school. "Yeah, we're seniors. How freaking weird is that?"

"Really weird. I'll be so glad to get out of this rat trap." Arnie looked around in distain. "What's your first class?"

"Chemistry." He wrinkled his nose. "What about you?"

"Math. Still it's with Mr. Cochran." Arnie waggled his eyebrows. "I get to stare at his gorgeous face for an hour."

Steve laughed and rolled his eyes. "Good luck with that." 

"Someday he'll realize how much he loves me." Arnie sighed and put a hand to his heart. "So are you and Marissa gonna co-chair the Gay-Straight Alliance this year?"

"Marissa might have to chair it herself. I don’t know that I'll have time." He felt a little guilty about that, but between school, applying for colleges, and Howard, he wasn't sure he'd have time for after school activities. "We'll see." 

Arnie gave him a weird look, but didn't press. "Oh, hey did you hear about Manny Gonzales?"

"No." Steve shook his head. "What about him?"

"He's a mutant." Arnie grinned at him. "One day he woke up and all the stuff in his room was floating."

"Wow."

"Yeah, isn't that cool? I wish I could move things with my brain." Arnie touched his temple. "His parents freaked out, though. They decided to send him to some school in Westchester. He got a scholarship or something."

"Lucky him," Steve said, flexing his hands.

"Yeah." The first bell rang and Arnie sighed. "Welcome back. I'll see you at lunch, Steve!"

"Yeah. See you at lunch." Steve squared his shoulders, feeling almost like he was preparing for battle, and headed for his first class.

***** 

As luck would have it, Steve had fourth period math with Marissa. She sat in the desk next to him, dropping her already full backpack onto the floor with a sigh. "We need to talk about the Alliance," she said in way of greeting.

"Yeah, about that, I don't think I'll be able to do it this year." He gave her an apologetic smile. "I've got a lot on my plate right now."

"So you're flaking on me again this year?" Marissa turned her whole body towards him and frowned. "Do I have to remind you that *you* came to *me* two years ago to help set this up? And now I'm supposed to carry it all on my own, again, after you practically disappeared last year?"

"I know and I'm really sorry about that but—"

"No, no 'buts,' Steve. This is your group too." Marissa let out a little huff of annoyance. "Besides, you know better than anybody that we need this. If only to protect each other." 

Steve stared down at notebook, feeling guilty and a little angry that Marissa was right. "Fine, but we'll have to meet at lunch." 

Marissa beamed at him. "Call me tonight, we'll talk about it. I've got a lot of ideas about what we can do to get out there and help the cause. It *is* an election year." 

Suddenly, his senior year seemed to get a lot busier. 

***** 

As soon as the last bell rang and the teacher released them, Steve bolted for the door. He almost made it. Almost, except—

"Steve, a word, please," Ms. Madison called and for a brief moment, Steve considered pretending he hadn't heard her. But his manners wouldn’t allow him to leave.

With a heavy sigh, he tuned and headed back towards the front of the classroom. He liked Ms. Madison—she was his favorite teacher—but he knew what was coming. He waited patiently for her to finish speaking with one of his classmates and when she turned to him, he smiled. "Yes, Ms. Madison."

"I just wanted to check in with you, Steve," she said, packing up her bag. "I expected to hear from you this summer."

"Yeah, sorry about that. I got caught up with work and I really didn't get a chance to work on my portfolio like I planned. " He rubbed the back of his neck.

She raised an eyebrow at him. "This is your senior year, Steve. Art schools are going to want to see an extensive portfolio. You're still serious about art school, aren't you?"

"Honestly, I don't know. I mean, I'd like to, but… I might just go to New York State for a few years and see what happens."

"Steve, if it's about money—"

"It's not about money," he said, cutting her off. "I just don't know… A lot's changed in the past year and I have to figure out what that means for me, for my future. Look, Ms. Madison, I gotta go. I told my mom that I'd be home right after school. I promise, this next month, I'll work my butt off on my portfolio."

Ms. Madison looked at him for a good minute, and then nodded. "All right. I'll see you in class tomorrow."

"Yup," he said, rushing out of the classroom.

***** 

Steve tossed his backpack onto the floor, flopped back on the bed, and fished his cellphone out of his pocket just in time to answer Howard's call. "Hey," he said, smiling. "How was your day?"

"Unlike yours, not over." Howard sounded a little tired, a little frazzled. 

He kicked off his shoes and stretched. "I miss you."

"You'll see me on Thursday."

"That's two days away." He knew he was whining, but he didn't care. "I missed touching you, kissing you. I miss sleeping with you."

"Babe." Howard was quiet for a long moment, and then he said, "You know I miss you too. When you're eighteen, you can stay with me as much as you want."

"Yeah." Steve worried at his bottom lip. "I love you." 

"I love you, too. Now I better go. Annie's glaring at me; I think it's time for another meeting. "

"Okay. Oh, hey, Howard, before you go. Are you busy next Saturday?" Their actual anniversary was the middle of the week, Steve didn't think Howard would be able to get away and his mom wasn’t going to let him take the day off. 

"I don't think so." Howard sounded distracted. 

"I got something special planned. So don't pencil anything in that day, okay?" Howard hummed and they exchanged a few more 'I love yous' before they hung up. Steve sighed and a moment later texted Tony.

***** 

Steve, Marissa, and Arnie came out of the classroom, talking enthusiastically about the election year and what the Gay-Straight Alliance could do to help their candidates win in November, when Steve felt someone shove him from behind. Before he could say anything, he heard some kid he didn't know say, "Watch where you're going, fag!"

He clenched his hands and opened his mouth to retort, but Marissa got there first. 

"Fuck you, asshole," she yelled, loud enough for most of the teachers monitoring the hall to hear. One of them gave her detention for her foul language and she didn't protest it. Both he and Arnie kept their mouths shut, too—they'd all learned years ago that arguing the point only meant more days in detention. 

*****  
Steve knew better than to expect Howard to remember their anniversary. Howard was the kind of man who remembered dates because his PA reminded him, so Steve's feeling weren't hurt when their actual anniversary date came and went without acknowledgement. 

He had low-key plans for that Saturday anyway—just the two of them spending the day in bed together. 

***** 

Steve stopped off and bought Chinese food from Howard's favorite place before heading over. He was a good mood, humming softly under his breath, Howard's gift—a set of hand painted coupons for various sexual and non-sexual activities that had taken him two weeks of painstaking work to finish—tucked away in his overnight bag. 

He made a detour into the kitchen to grab some napkins and greeted Mr. Jarvis. "Is Howard in his workshop?"

"Yes, sir. He's been down there since early this morning." Mr. Jarvis was kneading sourdough for bread and the thought of it made Steve's mouth water. 

"He must be on a roll. Let's see if I can distract him." Steve grinned, grabbed a few Cokes from the fridge and headed down. What he found was a bit more hectic than he expected. Schematics and sketches were strewn about the room and Howard, filthy and rumpled, had his hands in a device that looked like it could be a bomb. "That looks dangerous."

"Not yet," Howard said. "But it will be tomorrow. What's up?"

For a moment, for one brief, painful moment Steve allowed himself to be disappointed. But he quickly pulled himself together; he knew this about Howard, had known this about Howard for years. "You and I had a date scheduled, Mr. Stark."

"A date?" Howard glanced over, eyes flicking towards the food bags, then back up to Steve. "Oh, babe, I'm sorry. This has to get done by Monday and the guys I had working on it did a shitty job and the contract is—"

"Hey, hey, no! No, don't apologize. We'll do this next weekend. It's no big deal." Steve fished two cartons out of the bag and set them on the table. "I'll just leave you the chow mein and the barbeque pork and call you tomorrow."

"I’m sorry," Howard said and Steve kissed the unhappy twist of his mouth.

"I love you. Don’t work too hard, and eat." He pointed to the food. 

"Yeah, yeah." Howard offered up a smile, then quickly turned back to his work. 

***** 

When Steve got back to the apartment it was empty; for that he was glad, he didn’t want to explain to his mom what happened. He didn't want to have to defend Howard's behavior, again, to his mom.

At least not now. 

Instead, he unpacked his cold Chinese food and settled on the couch to watch a monster marathon on television. At some point, he must have fallen asleep—he remembered a dream where Howard was Doctor Frankenstein and he was the monster, emerging from a silver capsule, perfect and mindless—because the next thing he knew, there was a pounding at the front door and he had to flail to keep from falling off the couch. 

Steve rubbed his eyes and padded over to the front door, which he opened to a clean, but still frazzled looking, Howard.

"I want it noted that I did *not* forget our anniversary," Howard pushed past Steve into the apartment. "I bought your gifts weeks ago. I even had them wrapped and ready to go!" 

Steve closed the door and couldn't help but smile as Howard shook the gift in his hand. "Okay."

"I'm serious, Steve. It was on my calendar, I remembered. I just…. I got distracted!" Howard looked so upset that Steve walked over and hugged him. 

"Hey, you don't have to convince me. I get it; you're the CEO of a multi-billion dollar corporation, Howard. Sometimes the jobs of thousands of workers come first."

Howard hugged him back and kissed his neck. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay. You're here, that's all that's important." Which brought up a whole new matter. "How are you here? I thought you had to finish that project.

"Tony's finishing it." Howard released Steve and sat on the couch. 

"Tony," he said slowly, sitting next to Howard. "And you're okay with that?"

Howard took a deep breath; he looked like he was bracing himself for a punch. "Yes."

"All right." Steve cupped Howard's face and kissed him gently on the mouth. "Happy anniversary, Mr. Stark."

"Happy anniversary." Howard smiled and wiggled his eyebrows. "So where's my gift?"

Steve laughed and grabbed the envelope from the coffee table. "You're really hard to shop for, you know that? What do you get a billionaire who can buy whatever he wants?"

"I'm sure I'll love whatever this is." Howard opened the envelope and took out the coupons. There was a small smile on his face, until he took a better look at the coupons. "Did you…. The Memphis Belle, a Vin Fiz, the Enola Gay, the Blériot XI: Steve, these are gorgeous!"

"And if you ever want a back massage, you just have to redeem that one." Steve bit his bottom lip. "You like them?"

"I love them." Howard leaned in and kissed Steve. "Thank you, babe."

"You're welcome." Steve smirked. "Now gimme mine!"

"Greedy," Howard said with a laugh and handed over the badly wrapped gift.

"You did this yourself, didn't you?" At Howard's scowl, he laughed. "Hey, as long as it covers the gift, that's all matters." He set aside the paper and opened the box; a pair of socks sat nestled in a pile of tissue paper. He cleared his throat and tried not to sound disappointed. "Orange socks?"

"Fuzzy orange socks." Howard smiled and nudged Steve's shoulder. "Try them on. Go on!"

Steve picked up the socks and let out a bark of laughter as he uncovered a gift card envelope to an art store. "Okay, this seems more like you." He picked up the card and his eyes widened. "A thousand dollars!"

"Shh, don't tell your mom." 

"Howard—" He wanted to protest that it was too much but Howard covered his mouth.

"I know, Sarah will notice a thousand dollars worth of new art supplies. That's why that's only the first part of your gift." Howard let his hand drop from Steve's mouth. "I want you to pick an unoccupied room in my wing to be your art room… studio. A place for you to work on your art."

Steve blinked rapidly, struck dumb by Howard's offer. When he could finally speak again, the only word that came out of his mouth was, "What?"

"You can decorate it however you like. It'll be your space." Howard frowned. "You don't look happy."

"You... You are gonna get laid so many times tonight." Steve lunged at Howard, smothering his surprised laughter with a kiss.

***** 

Howard groaned and flopped back on the bed. "Oh, god, I don't think I can get it up again. I say we pause the celebration and resume when I can, once again, be a full participant."

Steve laughed and pressed a soft kiss to Howard's belly. "I guess I can take pity on an old man."

"This old man thanks you very much." Howard tugged on his hair and Steve wriggled up so they could kiss properly. 

"Mmm." Steve pulled away and stretched out at Howard's side. "That was a very good anniversary. Slow start, but it ended with a bang. With lots of banging." He closed his eyes, about ready to drift off to sleep, when he remembered that he needed to ask Howard something. "Oh, before I forget… I know this is probably an inappropriate time to ask—"

"Well, now I'm intrigued."

Steve nudged Howard in the ribs. "I'm gonna need letters of recommendation for college. Could you write one for me?"

"Of course. Dear Admissions Office, Steven Grant Rogers would be an excellent addition to your college. He has fantastic oral skills, he's flexible in his thinking, and he has a very big c—"

Steve clamped a hand over Howard's mouth. "Thank you." 

Howard mumbled something Steve hoped was 'you're welcome.'


	2. Howard's POV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The morning after their anniversary, something new comes to light that surprises everyone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise pairing. Check the endnotes if you want to be spoiled!

Howard woke earlier than he wanted to when Steve roughly shoved an elbow against his side, pulling him from a dream where he was fighting aliens with a fork. He blinked rapidly, side throbbing, and made the mistake of glancing at Steve’s alarm clock, which glowed 7:23. He buried his face against the pillow and tried to will himself back to sleep, but to no avail. He’d been told often enough by his parents that anyone who slept in past six-thirty was lazy—even if they hadn’t had much sleep in the past three days—to feel restless about sleeping in. Besides, he couldn’t stop thinking about all the things he needed to do today.

And anyway, Steve would need to get up soon to go to church. 

He groaned softly and pressed a kiss to Steve’s temple, then climbed out of bed. He pulled on a pair of Steve’s pajama pants, then stumbled to the kitchen—he needed coffee and lots of it. Thank god there was a pot already brewed.

“Good morning,” he mumbled to a sleepy-eyed Maria who was leaning up against the counter, a cup in her hands. He poured himself some coffee and had drained half of it when he realized what he’d just said. He looked over the mug at Maria, who was clad in a t-shirt and a pair of skimpy pink panties—the kind she called ‘date underwear’ when they’d been married. “Nice night?”

“Not bad.” She looked him over critically. “You?”

“Can’t complain.” Howard topped off his cup, added some sugar and milk, then stirred it slowly, trying to figure out how to ask if Maria and Sarah were fucking.

“I thought Steve was staying at your place last night.”

“Change of plans.” He took a sip of his coffee, then added more sugar. “So is this new.” Steve didn’t know, of that Howard was sure. 

“None of your damn business,” she said, straightening up. 

“Except that it is, because you’re fucking my boyfriend’s mother. Were you not the woman who got on my case about screwing Tony’s best friend? You don’t think screwing his best friend’s mom isn’t going bother him?”

“No, because Sarah and I are two grown adults.” Maria crossed her arms over her chest. “I like her, Howard. She’s funny and sweet and I don’t know where this is going to go, maybe it won’t go anywhere, but… but I want to see it to the end.”

“I didn’t know she was interested in women. I didn’t know *you* were interested in women. “

“Two things the great Howard Stark didn’t know; will wonders never cease,” she said.  
“Well, at least now I know why you never had a problem with threesomes.” Howard took a sip of his coffee. “I’m not keeping this from Steve.” She opened her mouth to protest, but he cut her off. “Oh no, no. See, this is a no brainer, sweetheart. Whether or not I tell Steve, you and Sarah will still be pissed at me for one thing or another. Whereas Steve will only be pissed at me if I *don’t* say anything.”

“Howard,” Maria started, stepping closer to him. “Steve—“

“Already knows now, thanks.” Both he and Maria turned to the kitchen door, where Steve was standing, looking flushed and disheveled and more than a little upset. “You guys are louder than you think.”

Maria opened and closed her mouth a few times, but after a moment, she sighed. “I should put some clothes on and talk to your mom.”

“Yeah,” Steve said moving aside for her. When she was gone, he headed towards the fridge. “You want some eggs?”

“I’m fine with coffee.” Howard held up his mug. “Are you okay?”

Steve peered into the fridge, back to Howard, and shrugged. “I wonder if this is what she felt when I came out.”

“What’s that?”

Steve slammed the fridge door and it rocked a bit. “Angry, confused… really, really confused.” He leaned back against the counter and rubbed his face. “Can we get out of here? We’ll get dressed and take the fire escape down.”

Howard set down his mug, walked over to Steve, and touched his face. “You should talk to your mom.”

“I don’t want to talk to my mom!” Steve drew Howard close and buried his face in against Howard’s neck. “But I have to, don’t I?”

“Yeah.” Howard stroked his hair. “Steve, this doesn’t mean she didn’t love your dad. You know that. I know that you know that.” 

Steve nodded. “Can I call you later?”

“Always, babe. You know you can always call me.” He kissed Steve’s hair and gently pulled away. “Now I better get dressed and go. I’ll take Maria with me. We need to have a conversation with Tony about this anyway. So don’t text him or call him.”

“I’ll wait until he calls me,” Steve said softly.

***** 

“Oh my god, I’m gay on both sides of my family. I’m 100% gay,” Tony said, pacing the room, hands flailing. 

A pained look crossed Maria’s face; Howard knew it well. “I’m bisexual, Tony.”

“Fine, then I’m 3/4ths homosexual.” Tony stopped in his tracks and turned to both of them. “I can’t believe you both have done this to me!”

“Made you 75% gay?” Howard asked, more amused than he should be—Maria gave him a dirty look.

“Sarah likes me!” Tony’s chest heaved. “She likes me, Mom. What happens when you two break up? She won’t make me cookies anymore. She won’t— It’s bad enough Dad’s sleeping with Steve, but now you’re sleeping with Sarah!”

“Tony—“ Maria took a few steps towards him but he waved her away.

“I hate you both!” He turned and stormed out of the room.

Maria made to follow, but Howard stopped her. “Let him cool off.”

Her shoulders slumped and she ran a hand over her eyes. “He said he hated me.”

Howard snorted softly. “Welcome to the club.”

“This isn’t funny,” she said, her voice wavering. 

He sighed and put an arm around her shoulders; he never thought he’d be doing this for her. She’d always been the one Tony liked best. “No, it’s not funny, but he’s upset, like we knew he would be. You’re not going to have a constructive conversation when he’s upset.”

“God, I hate this.” Maria shuddered and turned to press her face against his chest. “I just really like her, Howard.”

“I know.” He gently rubbed her back. “We’ll work this out, I promise. In the meantime, let me pour you a drink.”

She chuckled and pulled away. “Pour me two, I need it.” 

"Two it is." Howard went over to the bar. "And hey, look at it this way, at least now Sarah and I have something in common. Things get rough, we can always talk about your breasts."

Maria threw a decorative pillow at him; he ducked just in time.

***** 

"So how did things go with your mom?" Howard asked later, once he finally looked over the prototype Tony had finished up and called Steve.

"Okay, I guess." Steve sighed heavily. "She sort of had a girlfriend in high school."

"Sort of had a girlfriend? How do you sort of have a girlfriend?" He kicked off his shoes and put his feet up on the coffee table; he was emotionally and physically exhausted. 

"She didn’t elaborate and I was afraid to ask." Steve was quiet for a moment. "She says Maria makes her happy. How could I not want her to be happy, right? I mean, I want her to be happy."

Steve still sounded a bit shell-shocked. "You don’t sound so sure of yourself." 

"It's just weird that my mom is dating my boyfriend's ex-wife."

"Ooh, yeah, when you put it that way, it does sound weird." Howard couldn't help chuckling a little. 'Try not to think about it too much."

"Yeah." Steve sighed again. "I should go. Mom and Maria want to take me out to dinner. I love you."

"I love you, too. Call Tony, you two can commiserate." When he ended the call, he leaned back and stared at the ceiling. "Fuck." 

How was this his life?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sarah/Maria!!!


End file.
